CNN Presents

To date, the FBI has released no explanation of why they shot and killed Ilya Beloozerov in 2024. But after more than a year investigating the case, Isabelle is able to give his family the closest thing they’ve had to an explanation. And the only thing more shocking than how he died is why.
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When Isabelle starts digging into the mysterious death of Ilya Beloozerov at the hands of the FBI, her investigation quickly hits a wall. But the big breakthrough comes when she talks to the person closest to Ilya in the final months of his life: His now 18-year-old son.
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The last person to talk to Ilya Beloozerov was Kennon Green, who was living out of his truck in a McDonald’s parking lot when Ilya approached him with an offer: $30,000 to take him to southern California. Days later, Ilya was shot to death by the FBI in a hotel parking lot. To understand what happened, reporter Isabelle Chapman meets Ilya’s family, and learns that the answer may lie in Ilya’s job as a contractor for the Department of Defense.
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When a Russian-born American citizen named Ilya Beloozerov is gunned down by the FBI in 2024, the authorities refuse to say why they’d killed him. CNN’s Isabelle Chapman embarks on a sprawling investigation that takes her from the Mississippi parking lot where he died to Washington, D.C. to unravel the mystery: Why did Ilya abruptly leave his family and his job and head for the border with laptops and cash? Why is there still no official explanation of his death? And maybe most importantly: Was Ilya a spy?
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It’s 1989. James Gibson is back in Chicago for Christmas when he’s picked up by police on suspicion of murder. He will end up spending nearly 30 years in prison, convicted of a crime he’d one day be cleared of. That cold December night would spark a decades-long fight for justice — one that’s entwined in a dark legacy of torture perpetrated by Chicago police commander Jon Burge and his “Midnight Crew.”  

This is part one of a three-part series. This episode contains descriptions of violence.

Host: Omar Jimenez

Producers: Graelyn Brashear, Madeleine Thompson, Emily Williams, Kyra Dahring, Sofia Sanchez, and Lauren Kim  

Editor: Lacy Roberts 

Technical director: Dan Dzula  

Executive producer of CNN Podcasts: Steve Lickteig  

Production help from: Jake Sorgen, Joe DeCeault, David Guggenheim, and Jessica Pupovac

An earlier version of this episode stated James Gibson's initial trial was in 1990. It was in 1991. This episode has been updated to reflect that change.
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